Wife in the North

Recently I have reviewed one or two of the books I have really enjoyed reading, and it has suddenly struck me that I have been very remiss not to have mentioned “Wife in the North” by Judith O’Reilly. Judith was the Times Educational Correspondent when she lived in London, but has since turned freelance.

She does a blog, which she started off when she moved from London to Bamburgh, and it was as a result of my reading her blog, and enjoying her turn of phrase and sense of humour, that I started off this blog.

Judith and her husband had spent some holidays in Northumberland, and her husband had for some time entertained the idea of the whole family moving up to Northumberland to live. Whilst they were at their holiday cottage they learnt that the cottage next door was coming up for sale, and it was decided that they should give Northumberland a try. By knocking the two through it would give sufficient space for Judith, her husband, two boys and soon to be born baby girl, as well as room for Judith’s elderly parents, when they came to visit.

Initially Judith had grave doubts, and as she admits she is a townie. On leaving London she had this to say:-

As we drove out of the city’s fabulous sprawl last night with our two boys in the back of the car, I wondered whether I could kill my husband and plead insanity. I knew it would be slightly unfair - I had agreed to the move, although I had not meant it. “Hormones ate my brain, Your Honour.”

I love London - it is where I want to be. He thinks we will move to Northumberland and life will be perfect. Life is never perfect. If I had not been pregnant I would never have agreed to this ridiculous experiment in country living.

After three weeks there her husband has to return to London, leaving her to cope with the three children. It was somewhere around this point that Judith started her blog Wife in the North.com, which she sub titles - Just how grim can it get up north? Very. One woman's lonely journey into the Northern heartlands.

She then takes you through the trials and tribulations of knocking through the cottages, the culture shock of mixing with North Country folk, and the trauma of dealing with three very young children who all fail to sleep through the night! She also explains how life in rural Northumberland is very different from life in London. There are many funny and entertaining episodes in her book, as well as a very poignant piece about the birth of her first child.

Judith began her blog with 9 blogs at the end of 2006, and it was in effect re launched in 2007. It was very quickly picked up by political bloggers both in England and in the USA, and within a very short space of time Viking Penguin offered her a contract to turn it into a book. The initial print run was for 35.000 copies.

Her book has just been translated into German and is currently No.15 in their best sellers list.

The rest, as they say, is history.

She is at present working on her second book.

Do take the time to obtain a copy of her book, which is called Wife in the North (ISBN 13: 9780141033433). I promise you that you will find it an entertaining read, and if you are (or have been) the parent of small children, you will find lots to identify with.